Choosing Floors

We’re deep into the process of flooring and have been for several weeks. Choosing a floor is much more difficult than we had ever anticipated. There are so many choices, it can be overwhelming. I’m breaking down our process and sharing what questions we asked and what we learned through our experience. Bear with me, this may be long-winded.

Types of Flooring
Since our home is built on a concrete slab we’ll share the flooring options we researched and considered for our home. There are more options out there such as hardwood and tile, but for the sake of our budget and type of home we have, we chose to stay within the following products.

Engineered Wood: Instead of being made with solid planks of wood, engineered wood is made of three layers of wood (plywood and wood) while the top layer is a hardwood veneer. Engineered wood is very stable and can withstand high heat and moisture. It can scratch and dent, however because it is made of real wood, this product can be refinished, but the number of times it can be refinished is limited. This is also a great choice if wanting to sell your home since it can add value and may help a home sell quicker. There are a few things to consider, engineered wood is not the most environmentally friendly and has toxins in the stains and topcoats. Since it is also engineered, it does contain adhesives in the product. Lastly, if a portion of the flooring becomes damaged it can be difficult to repair.  $-$$$

Laminate: This  product is made of five layers of different materials such as plywood or MDF core. However the top layer is merely a print to resemble the look of a natural surface such as wood, but the texture can vary. Laminate has a bottom water proof layer making it a great choice for almost any home or room. It is resistant to mold + bacteria and is also very durable to scratches, scuffs and even light. Since this is a man-made material it can be created using compounds that derive from formaldehyde, which can cause health concerns especially when using a low quality material. It’s suggested to use a premium laminate and to look for products that have a minimum 20 year base warranty. $-$$$

Luxury Vinyl: This product is becoming more and more popular and people are choosing this product over wood and laminate because it’s water, stain, scuff and scratch resistant. Perfect for basements,  bathrooms or homes that can easily flood. This product has no wood elements whatsoever, but made from PVC. Although this product is extremely durable, there are characteristics to consider. Such as the VOC emissions. Several companies have reduced the amount of PVC used to make the vinyl planks, however low end products can contain high amounts and it is something to consider since long term exposure may cause health concerns over a long period of time. This product also may have a marginal effect on resale value for a home.  $-$$



At the beginning of this project, we asked several of our family and friends for their recommendations. What flooring they liked, didn’t like, what colors did they prefer and so on. The one statement that we heard over and over again was not to go dark. Guys, dark floors are gorgeous and I was slightly heartbroken to hear this repeatedly, but they all said the same thing.  It was recommended to stay in the lighter color families because darker colors show everything! Every little crumb, spill, dust bunny, footprint, smudge....you name it. I’m all about cleaning well, but I most definitely didn’t want to feel like I was cleaning my floors all day, every day....I literally don’t even have the time....who does?!? However, this was our flooring and we wanted something we were going to love, dark or not.

The first step we took was creating a wish list for what we wanted. Much like a house, knowing what you want and don’t want can make this process much easier. We needed to nail down what style we were designing into our home. We want it to be a cozy space with clean lines. We love classic farmhouse style with modern pieces mixed in. We’re very laid back as a family and we want our home to also reflect that. Lastly, we needed something that was going to be kid and pet friendly. On top of all that, we also wanted these characteristics in our flooring:

Natural looking

Lots of texture

Warm + Medium in color

No Gray (I think it’s too trendy for flooring)

Easy to clean

Rustic appeal

Secondly, set a budget. Flooring can vary significantly, but setting criteria is key especially when it’s a large project. We set our budget at $4.00 per square foot, but we had the understanding with each other we both had to love it to be at the top of our budget. We also agreed we would take our time and shop around, making the most of our budget.

Start window shopping. I can’t tell you how many weekends we spent shopping at different stores looking at the flooring options. We shopped for laminates, engineered, bamboo and even looked at luxury vinyl. Leaving no stone unturned  we flooded ourselves with dozens of options in order to fully understand everything that was offered. We can’t express this enough, feel the product. Sometimes a flooring can look beautiful, but feels completely different than what we wanted. Some were too slick, some felt artificial, some were too rough.  We gathered several samples from various stores including big box, large flooring companies and local flooring companies. We made so many trips to home improvement stores that when we drove into the parking lot all we could hear from the backseat was Finn moaning “ohhhh noooo! No, nooooo, nooooo!” Our kids will definitely be familiar with these stores and they’ll know how to do things themselves by the time they’re 10!

Once we had our samples at home we lined them up against our cabinets, walls and furniture. We moved  them around the house throughout the day allowing us to see the color of each sample in different light. Some of our samples looked completely different in our home than they did in the store and some of the colors depending on the time of day would show more reds, oranges or blues. After a couple days we began removing the samples we didn’t like and continued to dwindle our selection down until we had our final three.

So what were our final three? Well it’s kind of funny in the sense that we would make a decision and then change our minds the next day. This is also a good lesson in shopping around. The one sample we initially fell in love with was the most expensive at $3.59 per sqft. We loved the color, the texture and the width of the plank (6 inches), but knowing it was our most expensive we weren’t sure we really wanted to spend that much on the project even though we still had room in our budget. We weren’t comfortable and continued shopping. Soon we found a different flooring that looked similar to #1 but it was 5 inches wide, a smoother texture and less expensive at $2.99 per sqft. We were ready to choose this one, until I started searching for farmhouse style laminates and came across our third choice. I received a great quote ($2.39 per sqft) from an online company, but didn’t have sample to know if we would love it. So after some more searching, we found a local store that carried the same flooring and we were able to bring home a sample. We fell in love. Madly in love. With a laminate none the less.  We were so surprised to find a laminate we loved as much as we loved this one. The texture was great, the color was lighter than our other two choices, but it was beautiful. It had so much character and the plank was 6 inches wide! We were so excited! So our next step was to see if our local stores could give us a good deal on our newly found flooring, but the quote I received from the online company couldn’t be matched by our local stores. Not even close. Our local store priced the product at $4.50 per sqft. When Mike told them our online quote, (which was nearly 48% difference) they literally laughed on the phone! And so this threw red flags for Mike and I. We knew we really needed to dig to see if 1) this national company was legit 2) what else was included or not included in our quote and 3) if all was true and honest we needed to order this floor ASAP before something changed.

I’m so glad it worked out! After everything was confirmed we chose to go with Mannington Historic Oak Laminate in Ash (the first photo in this post!) This product is fairly new within the last few years. Most laminates lack natural, wood like texture, but Mannington has created a collection of wide, distressed planks with a wax effect finish to give a more realistic texture. We ordered the flooring last week from Carpet Express out of Atlanta and it should take just shy of two weeks to arrive and then we need to let it acclimate to our home.. This step is vital because it allows the product to adjust the moisture level and prevents the planks from warping; this process can take anywhere from a few days to a couple weeks depending on the temperature/climate of where we live. While we wait for the planks for acclimate, we will begin prepping our bare floors by pulling up all the carpet. We also have vinyl in the kitchen and dining room, but we haven’t decided if we’re pulling that up or not. We’ll decide once we pull the carpet up and see what the transition looks like. I’m thankful we’re  taking on this project now, in the summer, because our floors would be cold if it was winter. The entire house is about to be in complete mayhem and we know the kids will be bouncing off the walls more than ever. There’s going to be lots of movies on repeat to keep those little munchkins entertained while Mike and I tackle this one click at a time!

Wish us luck! I can’t wait to share the transformation as we do this project!